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Waterloo District 'Project Light Switch' plans October debuts for Waterloo Brew, The Fillmore, more

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Though delays in the $5.5 million Waterloo Road improvement project have slowed construction, progress is evident. Two of the area's new restaurants, including a microbrewery, plan to open on October 3.
(Courtesy, Northeast Shores Development)

- Waterloo Brew, the much-anticipated microbrewery and restaurant that will feature four indoor bocce courts, a restaurant and bar area. Operated by restaurateurs Randy Kelly and Linda Syrek (ABC The Tavern, XYZ The Tavern and Ontario Street Cafe) with business partner Alan Glazen - a key player in the neighborhood's renaissance - Waterloo Brew takes over the bar and bocce portion of the Slovenian Workmen's Home, 15334 Waterloo Road.

- The Fillmore, which will be formally known as The Millard Fillmore Presidential Library, 15617 Waterloo Road, opens in the former Harbor Pub location. The project is being guided by restaurateur Tom Bell, best known as mastermind behind The Flying Monkey Pub in Tremont.

The former Harbor Pub, 15617 Waterloo Road, returns as The Fillmore when it reopens on October 3. It's a new spot, featuring wood-oven pizza, by west side restaurateur Tom Bell. He formerly operated The Flying Monkey Pub in Tremont.Courtesy, Northeast Shores Development

The Fillmore will not only offer a wood-fire pizza oven but serve as backdrop for "the only Millard Fillmore Presidential Library," according to Alenka Banco, business development specialist for Northeast Shores Development Corporation, a community development corporation that supports the project.

The $5.5 million improvement and beautification project that is underway along Waterloo Road is slowly progressing, says Banco. Road resurfacing, changes to sidewalks, significant cosmetic additions and other significant upgrades to the infrastructure have taken longer than initial projections indicated.

As the project has slogged on, it has left businesses and customers dealing with torn up roads, missing sidewalks and other inconveniences, meanwhile slowing construction and other renovation projects.

"The last thing you ever want to assume is that things are going to be on-time and on-schedule in a project of this magnitude, especially when you're opening a business," Banco says.

"But right now you can see the shift in streetscape; it's starting to look better than worse - and it's only going to keep looking better," she adds.

SLOW, STEADY PROGRESS IN DEVELOPMENT

Still, the delays haven't stopped all progress in "Operation Light Switch" initiative. Last fall Glazen announced plans to establish a craft brewery in Cleveland's latest emerging neighborhood. Meanwhile, Bell had quietly been pursuing his own mission in the old Harbor Inn building.

"That's really a credit to Tom Bell," Banco says. "People want easier food, and he saw an opportunity and took it. He's literally a building or two down from the Beachland Ballroom, and that gives people another option on the street."

In addition to offering live musical performances, The Beachland offers dining under the stewardship of executive chef Brian Doyle. Blitz BBQ, directly across the street, also offers casual dining and take-out.

Other food options in the area include Grovewood Tavern, featuring new American cuisine at 17105 Grovewood Ave.; the Caribbean-themed Callaloo Cafe & Bar, 15601 Waterloo Road; and The SS&W Boardwalk, 16011 Waterloo Road, with a bar menu.

Bright Coffee Bar, promising "high quality fresh and healthy gourmet foods and beverages in the Waterloo Arts District," is currently under construction at 16021 Waterloo Road.

While the final phases of renovation ready the bar and bocce court areas of the Slovenian Workmen's Home for transformation into Waterloo Brew, food and drink offerings remain available.

The Slovenian Workman's Home features food specialties such as goulash, pork chops, shrimp dinners and home-style baked or deep-fried fish. Those dishes are expected to continue on the "Home" menu.

When Waterloo Brew celebrates its grand opening ­— with a dance party hosted by musician and WCPN/90.3 FM technical producer Lawrence Caswell on Oct. 3 — the first house brew will be unveiled. Plans for any potential changes in food offerings served at the Brew pub's bar remain under wraps. Glazen will only say that Waterloo Brew will offer "Old school food off the flat top [grill] right behind the bar."

Still in development are restaurateur Steve Schimoler's (Crop Bistro and Bar) forthcoming Crop Rocks, to be housed in the former Key Bank Building at 15619 Waterloo Road.

In a recent interview, Schimoler said that the project, in partnership with former Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum CEO Terry Stewart, is very much alive "but it's really on hiatus until the streetscaping on Waterloo Road is in its final stages."

Meanwhile, Schimoler is moving ahead with plans for Crop Kitchen in University Circle (in the space briefly known as Accent restaurant) and another Crop project planned for the Flats East Bank development near downtown Cleveland.

While dining and drink are spotlighted in the Waterloo area's redevelopment, Banco says that a new phase of arts destinations are already in the works.

"Waterloo Road's focus really is entertainment, with the Beachland, restaurants and clubs," Banco says. "But we also recognize that we need the art component to service the people who are moving into this neighborhood. Collinwood is a large territory; the people who live on those side streets are often professionals; they need more than bars and restaurants."

DRAWING MORE ARTISTS TO WATERLOO

To that end, she explains, the area of East 156th Street, a section south of Waterloo Road, has been rezoned as a semi-retail area.

"That means that section can have the residential homes, which are mostly rentals, and used in a very different ways," Banco says.

"Our goal is to make the arts in Collinwood a destination for out-of-towners," she adds. "It frees up the main artery [Waterloo Road] for entertainment and restaurants, and makes this sort of creative annex."

This next phase is termed "Project Lotus," in honor of the beloved mystical flower that blooms from sodden mud. Among the next-gen Lotus projects already underway are...

- Satellite Gallery, 442 East 156th St., is a second location for the Loren Naji Studio Gallery in Ohio City. The new art space's aim will be to "explore the infinite extent of the Outer, Inner, and Deep Space art world around Cleveland," according to Northeast Shores Development.

"They'll probably be first to open," says Banco. "They're well into the final phase of development." Target opening is October.

- Ink House, 423 East 156th St., a project of Zygote Press, will be a print shop in one of the new zone's vacant residences. Currently under construction, Ink House will offer a contract printing studio for creating fine art editions

"The garage behind Ink House will also serve as Zygote's home base for our mobile printmaking endeavors, as a community print garage, so we can keep on bringing printmaking to the streets of Cleveland beyond the two neighborhoods in which we reside," according to a statement from Zygote's leadership.

- Brick Ceramic Co-op and Gallery, 421 East 161st St., is slated to serve as affordable shared studio space for use by ceramic artists, as well as providing gallery space.

A fourth artists' space, Praxis, 16021 Waterloo Road, is under development. Its intention is to serve as a textile and fiber workshop, studio and gallery.

Banco muses when asked why the Collinwood area has become the focus for a new wave of art galleries, studios and other entertainment venues.

"Making artists stakeholders is crucial," she says.

"Artists are usually the risk takers. They're attracted to a neighborhood like Waterloo and Collinwood because of the diversity here, and its affordability. Artists often think themselves as a minority: for some its a woman thing, a minority thing, an artist thing - and empathy and understanding are great things to embrace," Banco says.

For its decades of decline and abandonment, Collinwood remains a community rich in culture and full of activity, she adds.

" There's a real personality to Collinwood," Banco says. "it's got this vibe and style. It's a lot like [the New York borough of] Brooklyn; there's a sense of funk-coolness to it, working middle-class, up-and-rising, that's very hopeful.

"You can feel the energy in this neighborhood. It's not fabricated. It's raw and real, and exciting"

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